What does the word “Hypocrite” mean in the original Greek?

Key Verses: “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy”. – Jesus

“I lived as a Pharisee”. – Paul

Hypocrites have been a main reason for all the problems on Earth [Opinion – Bro. MA.]

The word ‘Hypocrite’ is used often by Jesus in the 3 Gospels. However, the modern use of the word Hypocrite, and the Greek word ὑποκριτής have little in common. It is essential Disciples of Jesus know the true meaning of the text, for if they don’t, they are not hearing Jesus.

Matthew 6:2 KJV
Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocritesG5273 do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Matthew 6:5 KJV
And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocritesG5273 are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Matthew 6:16 KJV
Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites,G5273 of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

Matthew 7:5 KJV
Thou hypocrite,G5273 first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

Matthew 16:3 KJV
And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites,G5273 ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?

Matthew 23:13 KJV
But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!G5273 for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Matthew 23:15 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!G5273 for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Matthew 23:23 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!G5273 for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Matthew 23:25 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!G5273 for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Matthew 23:27 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!G5273 for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.

Matthew 23:29 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!G5273 because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,

Matthew 24:51 KJV
And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites:G5273 there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Mark 7:6 KJV
He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites,G5273 as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Luke 6:42 KJV
Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite,G5273 cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother’s eye.

Luke 11:44 KJV
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!G5273 for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.

Luke 12:56 KJV
Ye hypocrites,G5273 ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?

Luke 13:15 KJV
The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite,G5273 doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?

OPINION

Basically [Opinion – Bro MA] an example of a Hypocrite was/is someone who pretended they believed in God, but they didn’t.

Israel [i.e. The Church] has always been packed with these actors. Think of all the false writings, the Talmud, Book of Mormon, Quran, Paul, and the many other books that claimed divine inspiration in order to influence Israel/Church.

In order for someone who write a book, knowing he is not inspired, and then claim “This is from God!”, this person must be acting. “Why would he do this?” Often the answer is to influence a large amount of people to become, to act, to live a certain way.

Example: Paul the Actor/Hypocrite: we have a man who was a Pharisee under the violent rule of the Romans. The Romans killed 1000s of Jews in horrible ways. Suddenly Paul sees many non-Jews keeping the law, and worshiping the One True God through the teachings of Jesus. An idea pops in his head, “Imagine if I can get all the Roman empire to worship our God, they would then treat us better than they are. And, they won’t destroy Jerusalem”. In other words, to preserve the Jewish People, Paul possibly thought he would need to get non-Jews to see them as the chosen ones, Chosen by the one True God.

But there are some issues. The original Disciples of Jesus [i.e. ‘Christians’] kept the law as best they could. Paul realized that in order to get this faith to spread everywhere, including the upper classes of Rome, he would have to remove the requirement to keep the law, especially circumcision. So Paul had someone write a book [Acts] that seems to connect to Luke. 2nd Luke! This book’s purpose was to make Paul the main teacher of the Church. He then travels and writes letters, and eventually people adopt his message of ‘Grace’. Note: Jesus not once mentioned Grace.

Since people always like the easier way, they adopt this new twist on Jesus’ message. Suddenly they are following Paul and don’t even know it.

Was Paul successful? Because of the Church/Israel, Jews were given Israel in 1948. Since then, the United States has steadily increased it’s role in defending the Jewish people. So in this respect, Paul was very successful.

Where are there other actors/hypocrites? It’s possible the vast majority of people who claim to follow Jesus and fear Yahweh, actually don’t. Many of them change quite fast once they leave their parent’s house, but they will continue to tell their parents they are still ‘Christians’.

Spouses lie to each other about their faith. Pastors, Priests, Reverends, Deacons, all these people lie about their belief that God exists as revealed in Scripture.

These people do more damage than Atheism. They simply go along with whatever doctrines they first encounter. And because these denominations have so many people, so many ὑποκριτής/hypocrites, they attract alot of people who are just starting their path in seeking and knowing God and His will for them. They google “Church”, find a local one with a website that seems friendly, and before you know it they themselves have adopted a whole list of false doctrines.

If a person believes the reality of the Scriptures. That Hell is a place where so many go, where WE might go. The fear this person would feel would transform their whole lives.

You don’t hear much about the fear פַּחַד of the Lord. Why? Because in the ‘Book of 1st John’ the writer uses says:

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

This is a clear contradiction of inspired Scripture [Genesis – Luke]. People take this to mean fear is a bad thing, a thing we don’t want. But the reality of the Scripture says something else:

2 Chronicles 19:7 – “Now therefore, let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take care and do [it], for [there is] no iniquity with the LORD our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes.”
Psalm 19:9 – The fear of the LORD [is] clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD [are] true [and] righteous altogether.
Psalm 34:11 – Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
Psalm 111:10 – The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do [His commandments]. His praise endures forever.
Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of knowledge, [But] fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:29 – Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD,
Proverbs 2:5 – Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 10:27 – The fear of the LORD prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
Proverbs 14:27 – The fear of the LORD [is] a fountain of life, To turn [one] away from the snares of death.

For all of this misinformation to be injected into the consciences of the God seeking masses, there had to be a lot of Hypocrites/Actors.

If you don’t think God truly exists, why not ask Him to contact you in a way that cannot be explained away.